Gatherers Using Macros Or Something Else...?

Hello, I'm trying to find the proper place to post this but I'm not sure where it should go, so I'll put it here.

I'm trying to figure out if Automated Gathering Macros are possible in XIV. I know crafting macros are a thing, I see everyone using this to craft their Crystalline tools, but you still have to be at the computer to press the macros and buttons on the screen.

In the world I see people behaving like robots, landing right on nodes, never using cordials or Lay of the Land, and slowly, SO SLOWLY, hitting the nodes (without auto gather) until they're used up. Then they take off straight up into the air and immediately rotate toward the next node and repeat endlessly. The timing of these actions make it seem like they're using macros with Wait timers.

Some of these players are using their mains, others are obviously just automated gatherers in stock gear.

So I want to know because it's extremely hard to find this information. It's also extremely obvious when you see someone actually playing the game and not macroing.

Are gathering macros valid? I know the game has /facetarget movement commands, but I have a hard time finding anyone who says a gathering macro is something that can exist or even works, and no one says it's possible to fully automate gathering.

Each of these players behaves in exactly the same way, and I would call them bots if I didn't think it was possible they were just using macros. If they're macroing, that's something the game supports. If they're botting...

I spend hours at a time gathering resources for my crafts, and I have seen so many automated gatherers.

Can anyone shed light on this? Is there an official statement by anyone about this?

Because if I'm honest, I'm wasting hours gathering if it's possible to just use in-game features to automate. If everyone else is doing it, it's an if you can't beat them join them proposition. I'm not going to be moral about it, I really want to know what I'm seeing out there.

But I'm 99% sure these are people using bots. Can anyone prove me wrong on that?

what you're describing is botting action. afaik there really aren't any macros used for gathering.

That's sad. Thank you for replying. It just looks so much like it could be an in-game macro. I can understand the people doing it because maybe they don't get enough time during the day to spend hours gathering these resources, but the dozens of stacks of farmed resources I see on the market, only for Square to release and update and have them all disappear shows there's a lot more going on behind everything.